July 5, 1864. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



15 



pail not over-clean with hands not over-delicate, and then 

 spread out to dry before going to table. What sort of 

 flavour can they have after such sousing and washing, and 

 the necessary accompaniments ? for we maintain that where 

 nothing is done to keep Strawberries clean, there will be no 

 great particularity in the mode of cleaning them. One great 

 advantage of growing small fruit, as Gooseberries, Currants, 

 &c, on trellises, and elevated as dwarf standards is, that 

 the fruit will always be clean. No spattering of mud on 

 them after a shower. These things will be more thought of 

 when quality as respects flavour shall be more considered 

 than mere appearance, when fruit is sent to table to be 

 eaten, instead of, as is now often the case, merely to be 

 looked at. After using different coloured gravels and other 

 materials as a substitute for flowers in beds, it would only 

 be a step to paint wood and wax, in imitation of the best 

 fruit for the ornamenting of the table. If for mere show 

 they could be rendered as attractive as the realities. 



We are informed that artificial bouquets are now taken to 

 balls and routs, and that a favourite scent can at any time 

 be thrown over them by touching a spring in a concealed 

 bottle or reservoir. The huge size that bouquets are now 

 getting — enough for a moderate-sized flower-bed — may force 

 on the use of artificial flowers among those who feel com- 

 pelled to follow the fashionable, and yet keenly study 

 economics. After all, what great difference can there be in 

 a lady holding a nosegay of artificial flowers in her hand, 

 and carrying a sheaf of imitation of the real and unreal in 

 her bonnet ? For our sister flowers of humanity there is no 

 flower we gardeners can cultivate that can be too good ; but 

 there is such a thing as gracefulness and beauty being so 

 over-adorned that what is considered by many indispensable 

 to be fashionable, is looked upon by those of more chaste 

 and refined taste as nothing but deformity and vulgarity. 

 With such variety of tastes it is a matter of gratitude that 

 all may carry out their own peculiar views if they do not 

 infringe on the rights of their neighbours. 



ORNAMENTAL DEPARTMENT. 



Here we have been very busy in potting, clearing, mowing, 

 rolling, &c ; but on these, and especially potting and the 

 summer treatment of plants, we shall have something to 

 say next week. — R. F. 



COVENT GAKDEjST MAKKET.— July 2. 



Of all out-floor vegetables there is nowan abundant supply ; and of Pines, 

 Grapes, Melons, Strawberries, the suoplv is fullv equal to the demand. 

 Peaches priucipally consist of Violette Harive, Noblesse, and Royal George, 

 the latter and Galande or Bellegarde being- particularly fine. Some excel- 

 lentFigs are brought from Marseilles; and consignments from abroad 

 continue to arrive, and consist of Victoria and Green Gage Plums, Carrots, 

 Kidney Beans, Endive, Artichokes and Tomatoes. Common Cherries can 

 now be obtained at fro n 3tf. to 6d. p^r lb., but for those of the best quality 

 former prices are still maintained. Cut flowers principally consist of Roses 

 Pelargoniums, Orchids, Stephanotis, Calceolarias, Sweet Peas, and Migno- 

 nette. 



Apples | sieve 



Apricots doz. 



Cherries ; lb. 



Figs doz. 



Filberts & Nuts 100 lbs. 

 Goosebrs. Green £ sieve 

 Grapes, Hothouse. ...lb. 



Muscats 



Lemons 100 



Asparagus bundle 



BeansBroad $ sieve 



Kidney 100 



Beet, Red doz. 



Broccoli bundle 



Cabbage do?;. 



Carrots bunch. 



Cauliflower doz. 



Celery bundle 



Cucumbers each 



Endive score 



Fennel bunch 



Garlic and Shallots, lb. 



Herbs bunch 



Horseradish ... bundle 



Leeks bunch 



Lettuce ...score 









FKTJIT. 













s 

 

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fl. B 



toO 

 3 

 2 

 12 

 

 4 

 10 

 14 

 10 



VEG 



a 





 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Melons 





p. 



4 

 10 

 10 

 18 











6 





 14 



d. s 

 OtolO 

 20 

 16 

 36 

 

 

 n 10 

 6 1 

 9 20 



d 

 



1 









8 









 







Fears 



.... bush. 



6 

 8 

 4 



Strawberries 



lb. 

 ..punnet 





 6 





ET 



AELES. 







s. 

 3 

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a. s. 



to 6 

 6 

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5 

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6 2 

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8 



3 

 6 4 



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a 











6 

 

 

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Mustd. & Cres 



Onions 



pickling 



Parsley 



Parsnips 



, punnet 



.. bunch 



quart 



8 

 1 

 

 

 



1 





 

 2 

 8 

 

 

 

 

 

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d. a 

 0to2 

 2 

 4 

 6 

 2 

 9 1 

 6 1 

 5 

 12 

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 6 1 

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d 

 

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 6 

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4 



9 







6 











6 



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lb. 



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Potatoes 



New 



1 

 



Radishes doz. 

 Turnip 



bunches 







Rhubarb 









1 

 





basket 







3 ' 







TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



Rvblua, Leschenaultia, and Erica Culturb ( T. <?.).— A cool greeu- 

 house is the proper place for them, and the highest and most airy situation the 

 structure affords. Sandy peat is the most suitable comport, good drainage 

 being the key of good root-action. The soil should at all times be kept 

 moist ; too much moisture, however, is certain destruction to the roots, and 

 a dry soil both to them and the plant. At all times, except in very frosty 

 weather, they require fresh air continuously winter and summer, and should 

 not be mixed with other plants which would rob them of light and air. 

 They like a rather dry atmosphere, a close moist atmosphere" being very 

 injurious. 



Foxglove -Gypsum; (A. JV. W.).— If cattle were to eat a large quantity 

 of Foxglove it would be fatal to them, probably ; but we believe they would 

 not eat it unless starving. The residue after obtaining carbonic acid by 

 pouring sulphuric acid upon whitening is gypsum, or Plaster of Paris 

 (sulphate of lime), and has been applied beneficially to Clover, and as a top- 

 dressing to lawns. On some soils it has been fonnd benefinal when mixed 

 with them previously to sowing Turnips and planting Potatoes. 3 cwt. 

 of it per acre is sufficient. 



Seedling Cineraria Culture (A Young Gardener).— Vot them singlyt 

 when large enough to handle, in 48-sized pots, and place in a cold frame. 

 Heat is ruinous to Cinerarias. When the pots are full of roots shift 

 into 24's, and grow on in the frame as before, putting on the lights 

 only during very wet weather, aid in the early frosty nights of autumn. 

 Remove the plants to the greenhouse in thi beginning of October, and shift 

 into 16's or 12'a according as you wish to have the plants large or smalL 

 Keep near the glass in the coldest place, it cannot be too cool so long as 

 frost is exclude*!, and give abundance of air at all times, except in frosty 

 weather. Keep down the green fly by frequently fumigating with tobacco 

 smoke. A compost of turfy loim one-half, and one-half leaf mould, a ad 

 well-rotted manure in equal parts, is the most suitable cooipost- 



Vines in Pots (T. K. ./.).— Keep the Vines in pots dry at the roots, but 

 do not withhold water altogether, give only sufficient to maintain the leaves 

 from flagging. If your Vines are trained so as to be near the glass, we 

 advise you to let them remain there until the leaves have fallen ; but if not 

 in a situation where they receive abundance of light by close proximity to 

 the glass, we advise you to have them placed there at once, and so get the 

 wood hardened, or ripened, before you think of putting them outside. So 

 long as the large leaves remain green the eye at their axil is not fully de- 

 veloped, nor can the wood be ripe, though it may be brown. Maintain a 

 dry atmosphere by a gentle fire in cold moist weather, in the house from 

 which the Grapes have been cut; give air day and night ; re nove most of 

 the laterals, to admit air and light to the large leaves and wood, andi n 

 about a fortnight cease firing altogether, and give all the air possible. The 

 leaves will fall in due time. Bowood Musc.it does well in the same house as 

 Black Hamburgh, but it should have the warmest situation. 



Hoya Culture (M. H.). — As your plant grows well it cannot be for want 

 of heat that it does not bloom. Is it shaded by climbers, and at a great 

 distance from the light] If so, and we fear it is, place in a position where 

 it will receive the full sun ; and, to assist in ripening t'r:e wood, give little 

 water at the root— in fact, let it become dry after August, and give no more 

 moisture during winter thm is sufficient; to prevent the leaves drying or 

 shrivelling up. We have one now, on the back wall of a vinery, with more 

 than five hundred bunches of bloom upon it, and upwards of fifty of its 

 wax-like flowers in some of the bunches. 



Wellingtons a gigantea (R'isticus). — Instead of your Wellingtonia 

 thriving we think it is growing very slowly. The plant may have been 

 grown in a pot prior to its being planted out, which has been the ruin of 

 many of our choicest Conifers. Pot culture gives the roots a corkscrew 

 character, whereas they naturally ramify through the soil in all direction 

 from the stem, and this prevents their taking hold freely of the soil after 

 planting, and their growth is slow on account of the crooked channels by 

 which the sap is transmitted to the part above ground. The roots, too, in 

 consequence of their corkscrew character, are not enabled to take that firm 

 hold of the soil which enables the trees to withstand the violence of winds, 

 and they are sometimes blown over. The above may be one cause of yours 

 not doing well, or it may be attributable to improper planting, as in a cold, 

 wet, clayey soil, and on the lavel without any preparation. Our advice is : 

 selecting a showery time in September, remove the turf for a space of 6 feet 

 all round the tree. Have a cartload of moderately rich loam— if turfy loam. 

 with an equal quantity of leaf moul't intermixed, so much the better— in 

 readiuess, then take up the tree carefully with a ball if practicable, and dig 

 the whole of surface from which the turf is removed one spit deep. 

 Spread about half the cartload of fresh compost on the newly dug ground, 

 and point it in with a fork. This done place the tree in the centre with the 

 bottom of the ball upon the surface, and put fresh compost round the ball, 

 so as to cover it an inch or two higher up than before, pressing the soil 

 gently around the ball. Place the soil over the dug portion of the field, so 

 as to slope from the tree down to the turf all round. Tour tree will then 

 stand on a gentle mound, flattened or dished at the top for about a yard 

 wide, to hold water, of which give a good suoply immediately after planting, 

 and then relay the turf, which will not be sufficient to c^ver the little hillock, 

 but will leave a space abont I foot 6 inches wide all round the tree. The 

 edges of the turf will form a dish very use ul in supplying the tree with 

 water about twice a-week in dry weather, if any be needed afterwards, which 

 will be the case if September be dry ; but none will be needed after planting 

 if the weather be at all wet and showery. Try this, and yonr tree will 

 astonish you. 



Agapanthos umbellatds Culture (Idem). — Pot in a compost of turfy- 

 loam and leaf mould in April, and place in a light airy situation in a cool 

 greenhouse. Water moderately after potting, but when the pots become 

 filled with roots water abundantlv from May until October, keeping rather 

 dry at the roots at other times, but not so as to affect the foliage much. 

 The plants may be placed out of doors in June, and returned to their winter 

 quarters in October. Under this treatment they mostly flower in September, 

 and when distributed in large clumps in vases, or tubs, on terraces, they 

 have a fine appearance. Kept in Lhe yreenhou*e continuously they usually 

 bloom in May, sometimes in autumn, and occasionally at both periods. 



Cut Flowers (R. S.).— A prize "for the best collection" is very in- 

 definite. We suppose the judges wilt be influenced not only by the number 

 of different kinds, but by the taste with which they are arranged ; and here 

 we cannot help you, unless we had the flowers before Ui. 



